Club juggling
Clubs are roughly cylindrical objects, usually around 20 inches long, with a slim handle end, and a center of balance nearer the wider "body" end. They are often referred to as "pins" by non-jugglers due to their resemblance to bowling pins. However, the two vary greatly in construction, weight and weight distribution, and are not interchangeable for most purposes. While jugglers had already been performing with linear objects such as sticks, torches, and long knives, club juggling, with the now familiar "Indian club" design, did not come about until the late 19th century. Indian clubs were very heavy exercise/martial arts equipment made from wood, and were shaped similarly to modern juggling clubs. The Indian club was first re-purposed for juggling by DeWitt Cook in the 1800s. Edward Van Wyck made clubs starting in 1895 out of his workshop in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Van Wyck clubs, the very first commercially available juggling clubs, are made of wood and feature a hollow body (to reduce weight) and three piece construction. Harry Lind manufactured clubs from his workshop in Jamestown, New York, USA from 1919 to 1967. Lind clubs are also hollow and made with three pieces, although their construction is different and superior to clubs made by Van Wyck. In 1964 Jay Green, a former IJA champion, began making clubs in New York City, New York, USA using off-the-shelf materials. His were the first plastic, multi-peice juggling clubs, and the first to feature a flex handle and foam knobs and end caps. These were all large diameter American styled clubs. In Europe, construction using solid cork bodies with wood handles was seen along with very thin profiled solid wood clubs which were actually more stick-like in their construction. Clubs are normally thrown so that they rotate at least once while in the air (with the top of the club rotating toward the juggler). Higher throws are usually done with more rotations, but the rotation speed can be controlled with the wrist to change the number of rotations per throw. It is also possible to throw flats, making the clubs stay horizontal in the air without spinning at all. Taken further, reverse spins can be thrown, so the club rotates in the opposite direction. The basic pattern for any number of clubs is normally done with each throw rotating half as many times as the number of clubs being juggled, rounding down for odd numbers: 3 clubs are done with single rotations, 4 and 5 are done with doubles, 6 and 7 are done with triples, 8 and 9 are done with quads. Any higher or lower number of rotations is usually considered a more difficult trick. Clubs are more difficult to juggle than balls or rings. Sticks are harder to run than normal clubs, but easier for flashing high numbers. The Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling (JISCON) recognizes sticks as a type of club that may be used for numbers records. The highest number of clubs that have been qualified (at least twice as many catches as objects) is 8 (by Anthony Gatto), and the highest number of clubs that have been flashed (same number of throws and catches as objects) is 9 (by Emil Dahl). 9 sticks have also been flashed by four other people. 3 clubs thumb|400px|left|3 club competition routines at [[WJF 6]] DeWitt Cook was the first person to juggle 3 clubs, in the late 19th century. He juggled heavy wooden Indian clubs, normally used for arm-swinging exercises. The IJA has had a 3 club performance competition as part of the individual prop competitions since 2004 (first winner: Ivan Pecel). 3 is the minimum number of clubs allowed in the Beginner, Junior, and Intermediate WJF competitions, and was also the minimum number for the Advanced competitions before 2008. The WJF overall championship currently includes two competitions for 3 clubs: 360s (most 3 up 360s in 1 minute; held since 2004), and freestyle (held since 2006). At first the 3 club freestyle competition was a "best trick" contest like the other freestyle competitions, but in 2008 it was changed to the 1 minute routine format originally used for the WJF freestyle competitions. The 3 club endurance world record is 1 hour, 47 minutes, and 8 seconds by Michael Geddes (record from Wikipedia, video). Julien Navares claims to have juggled 3 clubs for 1 hour, 52 minutes, and 12 seconds. 4 clubs thumb|400px|left|4 club tricks by [[Josh Horton]] Charles Hoey was the first person to juggle 4 clubs. 4 was the minimum number of clubs used in the WJF advanced club short program in 2008; since 2010 that competition is for 5 clubs only. The WJF overall championship included a 4 club freestyle competition in 2006 (winner: Wes Peden) and 2007 (winner: Malte Peter). In 2011 the WJF had a 4 club freestyle competition that was not part of the overall championship (winner: Lauge Benjaminsen). The WJF also had an intermediate level 4 club short program in 2010 and 2011. The unofficial world record for 4 clubs (not validated by any world record organizations; no publicly available video) is 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 28 seconds by Luis Niño Villesca (record from IJDb). 5 clubs thumb|400px|left|5 club 1 minute [[Spins|360s world record by Vova Galchenko]] Ben Mowatt was the first person to juggle 5 clubs. Until 1984, there were only two divisions in the IJA Numbers Championships - one for 7 objects (competitors could use either 7 balls or 7 rings in the same division) and one for 5 clubs. Since 1984 the IJA has had competitions with a separate division for each prop, where competitors are scored higher for juggling higher numbers. The WJF advanced club short program has been exclusively for 5 club juggling since 2010. The other 5 club competitions in the overall championship are freestyle (best trick competition; held since 2004), 360s (most 5 up 360s in 1 minute; also held since 2004), and 5 club backcross isolated endurance (endurance contest with competitors standing on chairs to allow only accurate, controlled patterns; held since 2005, part of the overall championship since 2007). The world record for 5 club juggling is 53 minutes and 21 seconds by Thomas Dietz (record from JISCON). Thomas claims to have done 5 clubs for 1 hour and 25 minutes. 6 clubs ]]Pat McGreevey was the first person credited with juggling 6 clubs (4 in one hand and 2 in the other). 6 is now the minimum number of clubs used in the IJA's numbers endurance competition, and was also the minimum number of clubs used in the WJF's numbers endurance competition until 2006. Since 2007 the WJF club endurance competition has started with 7 clubs, and in 2008 the WJF added a 6 club freestyle competition to the overall championship. The 6 club juggling world record is 7 minutes and 38 seconds by Anthony Gatto (record from JISCON, video). 7 clubs thumb|400px|left|7 club 7 up [[Spins|360 by Anthony Gatto]] John Breen is the first person recorded as having juggled 7 clubs. (He could do about 70 catches. Long before that, an ancient Chinese juggler is credited with juggling 7 swords.) The first person to juggle 7 clubs in the IJA's numbers endurance competition was Anthony Gatto in 1986. 7 is the minimum number of clubs used in the WJF's numbers endurance competition, and the highest number of clubs that have been qualified in any of the numbers endurance competitions at the IJA and the WJF. The WJF overall championship has two other competitions for 7 clubs: freestyle (held since 2008), and isolated endurance (endurance contest with competitors standing on chairs to allow only accurate, controlled patterns; held since 2005, part of the overall championship since 2007). The WJF also had a 7 Club Incentive Program in 2010-2012, awarding $250 to anyone 15 years old or younger who was able to juggle 7 clubs for 50 catches at a WJF convention. Jack Denger won the 7 club incentive program in 2011 at age 14. The world record for 7 clubs is 4 minutes and 23 seconds by Anthony Gatto (record from JISCON). The following people have juggled 7 clubs for at least 100 catches on video: *Anthony Gatto (over 1000 catches, video) *Vova Galchenko (300 catches, video) *Jon Brady (111 catches, WJF 5 Overall Championship DVD) *Jack Denger (109 catches, video) *Thomas Dietz (105 catches, video) *Wes Peden (100 catches, video) Other jugglers reported to have done at least 100 catches of 7 clubs: *Toby Walker (170 catches, claim) *Stephan Gruss (about 120 catches, claim) *Christof Buch (118 catches, claim) *Onni Toivonen (101 catches, claim) *Ben Thompson (claim) *Claudius Specht (claim) *Manuel Mitasch (claim) *Françoise Rochais (claim) *Willy Colombaioni (claim) Tricks that have been done with 7 clubs include: *Quads (qualified - video) *Doubles (flashed - video) *Singles (flashed - video) *Cascade with club balance (qualified - video) *966 (1 round to a qualify - video) *(8x,6)* (qualified - video of a shorter run) *7 up 360 (qualified - video) *5 up 180 (qualified - video) *Backcrosses (flashed - video) *2 body throws from one side (to a qualify - video) 8 clubs thumb|400px|left|An [[Anthony Gatto video with three 8 club qualifies]] 8 is the highest number of clubs that have been performed onstage. No one has successfully juggled 8 clubs in the numbers endurance competitions at the IJA and the WJF, which require a qualifying run. The following jugglers have all done at least a flash of 8 clubs on video: *Anthony Gatto is the first person known to have flashed 8 clubs, or any similar objects on video (though others are recorded as having done 8 torches, knives, sticks, and rackets before him). He currently holds the world record for 8 clubs with 16 catches (record from JISCON). The video shows three qualifying runs of an asynch fountain in triples. No one else has qualified 8 clubs on video, but Ben Thompson claims to have also done 16 catches. *Jason Garfield (asynch triples - video) *Willy Colombaioni (asynch quads - incomplete video?) *Nikolai Gerasimov (asynch flat fronts in quads onstage - video) *Ben Thompson (asynch quads - video) *Daniel Eaker (quads-triples video, asynch triples video) *Rudolf Janeček (asynch quads onstage - video) *Toby Walker (video shows about 11 catches of asynch triples in columns) *Emil Dahl (asynch quads - video) *Iver Tronstad (asynch quads - video) *Eivind Dragsjø (asynch quads - video) Other jugglers reported to have flashed 8 clubs: *Darin Marriott (claim) *Chris Fowler (9 catches - claim) *Niels Duinker (claim) *Scott Sorensen (claim) *Thomas Dietz (claim) *Onni Toivonen (claim) *Manuel Mitasch (claim) *Kristian Wanvik (claim) Similar objects: *Shimon ben Gamaliel (torches - claim) *Enrico Rastelli (sticks - claim) *Luke Jay (sticks - claim) *Jian Ping Qian (badminton rackets - video) *Chris Fowler (10 catches with sticks - claim) *David Cain (sticks onstage - video) *Bruce Tiemann (sticks - claim) *Scott Sorensen (sticks - claim) *Françoise Rochais (10 catches with batons - claim) 9 clubs by Emil Dahl]]Bruce Tiemann was the first person to flash 9 sticks, in 1996 (record from JISCON, video). The 9 stick record has since been equaled by Scott Sorensen in 1997 (record from JISCON, video), Chris Fowler in 2003 (record from JISCON, video), and Daniel Eaker in 2009 (record from Wikipedia, video). Chris Fowler claims to have done 9 sticks for 11 catches. Ben Thompson claims to have flashed 9 clubs on video, but he didn't keep the footage because it was too sloppy. Emil Dahl became the first (and so far the only) person to flash 9 clubs with publicly available video evidence in 2013 (record from Wikipedia). See also *Sticks *Batons *Canes *Ball juggling *Ring juggling Category:Props